Racing driver dies in the second night of the rebranded Clay County Speedway

Shane Walters August 23, 2018

Fellow racers have setup auctions of race car body panels to support the Lamacchia family

Don Lamacchia, age 53 entered the event in the B-Mod division at the dirt track. An accident took place in front of him on the track. That car went through the air. Lamacchip attempted to drive under the crash but the airborne car landed on top of the #56 car driven by Lamacchia.

“He loved the big time. That car he died in he built from the ground up; every car he had he built from the ground up,” Rich Bowers, friend of the family told Fox2.

“He helped out a lot of people out around here. … You had problems, he’d try to help you. I’m going to miss him. I’m going to miss him a lot,” Bowers said.

Clay County Speedway is a 1/3-mile clay oval. The track is located two hours outside of Saint Louis in Flora, Illinois.

The track formerly operated as Route 45 Raceway. Many years before that, it was also called Clay County Speedway. It has been closed since 2016. It was only recently reborn with the original name.

Joey Lee has resurrected the race track with his purchase of the speedway back in May 2018. Many upgrades and repairs were made before the gran re-opening. One of the many items updated included the catch fence surrounding the speedway. On August 12th, they hosted their debut event since the closing.

This incident happened on the second night of the new season. The August 19th show brought a special show to the track, Topless Modifieds which paid $3,000 to the winner. Will Krup won that race. Rusty Schlenk won the $1,500 to win super late model race. Additionally, Josh Lemke won in the street stock division.

Following the crash in the B-Mod division, the remaining portion of the class action was canceled for the night. The initial condition of Don Lamacchia was unclear.

“I have removed the B-Mod feature given the circumstances. We would like to ask for everyone’s thoughts and prayers until we receive news about all drivers involved,” the track stated the night of the crash.

40 minutes later, an update was posted from the track. The entire night of racing was canceled.

“The remainder of tonight’s events have been cancelled. We would like to ask for continued prayers for our drivers,” track officials posted.

On Monday night, the track received word that Lamacchia succumbed to injuries sustained in the crash on Sunday night at Clay County Speedway.

Track promoter, Josh Lee issued the following statement:

“It is with a heavy heart that I write this post. Clay County Speedway has lost not only a driver but a good friend and fellow racer. Don lamachia was known to some as just another driver but to me a friend of my family.”

“My condolences go out to Don’s family at this time. Please continue to pray for them all as they need it now more than ever.”

“Thank you and God bless.”

Lamacchia was the owner of Action Towing located in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

Auctions to support the fallen racers family

The racing community is a family.

Since the announcement that we’ve lost Don Lamacchia many teams have offered support. Mike Harrison Racing and Adam Strickler are both auctioning off doors of their race cars. All proceeds from the sale will go to the Lamacchia family.

Mike Harrison recently claimed the 2018 Summit Modified Nationals title. As of Wednesday, the current bid was $650.